“The motivation for this report was to better measure the value of digital finance and greater financial inclusion in emerging markets,” McKinsey’s Susan Lund, a co-author said. “Few doubt that financial inclusion and mobile money dramatically reduce costs or boost economic growth. We wanted to apply our analytical tools to more accurately size what it’s worth to these regions.”

Compared to advanced economies, many of these areas can be data desserts when it comes to statistics on particular consumer behavior or business sectors. In Africa, for example, several recent GDP revisions revealed outdated statistical methods were missing billions of dollars in economic activity.

Most of the blame for the missing numbers falls squarely at the feet of the cash-based economies that comprise the majority of financial activity in these markets. Roughly 90% of transactions in high growth markets are done with cash. Cash does not leave the “rich datasets created by digital payments,” which can expose statistical blind spots and spur greater lending by creating more complete credit reporting.

Some of the highlights of fintech adoption across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East include the following:

A $3.7 trillion boost to GDP by 2025

Creation of 95 million new jobs

Inclusion of 1.6 billion more people in the financial system; and

New deposits of $4.2 trillion

McKinsey views mobile based financial services as the most effective conduit to reach the unbanked. Mobile phone penetration, which stood at 80 percent in emerging markets in 2014, is expected to increase to 90 percent by 2020, according to GSMA data referenced in McKinsey’s report. “When it comes to access to financial services, mobile provides a leapfrog option in emerging economies,” said Lund. She highlighted a report finding that access to traditional financial accounts in emerging markets is strongly correlated to higher income, while access to mobile digital banking products is not. “Because mobile money based services are 80-90 percent cheaper, they can be offered at lower income levels.”

An estimated 880 million women in emerging economies could gain first time financial account access through adoption of mobile and digital finance, according to McKinsey. Fintech services could open up $2.1 trillion in credit to individuals and MSMEs.